Combining Multiregional Input‐Output Analysis with a World Trade Model for Evaluating Scenarios for Sustainable Use of Global Resources,Part I: Conceptual Framework

Consumption in a particular country often entails resource extraction, production, and environmental degradation in remote locations. This fact has stimulated a growing body of empirical analysis using input‐output (I‐O) databases and techniques to reveal and quantify the underlying linkages. Two lines of research rooted in I‐O economics, multiregional input‐output (MRIO) analysis and I‐O modeling of the world economy, describe and analyze these relationships, the first for the past, increasingly in the form of footprints and the underlying pathways, and the latter under alternative scenarios about possible courses of action in the future. The article shows how organizing such scenario outcomes into an MRIO database can extend the reach of MRIO analysis to the future while simultaneously supplementing the capabilities of the world trade modeling framework. We describe the compilation of an MRIO database from the results of scenario analysis using the world trade model (WTM) in a companion article (Part II, Implementation); the subsequent application of MRIO techniques to this database permits the evaluation of prospects for the future. We also address several overlooked challenges, namely, the need to include factor endowments and distances between potential trade partners in an MRIO database, the representation of sectors providing transport of internationally traded goods, and the manipulation of mixed physical and money units when both quantities and prices are endogenous.     

A new procedure to study the perceptual world of animals with sensory reinforcement: Recognition of humans by a chimpanzee

A female chimpanzee touched a button to produce colored slides of pictures. Slides were present as long as she kept touching the button. Repeated touch within 10 sec after the previous release produced the same slides again. The slide was changed when 10 sec passed after she released the button. The duration of a touching response and the interval between the responses were calculated for each of 100 slides. The data for each slide were plotted on the two-dimensional space constructed with response duration and response interval. A clear differentiation of distribution on this space was found between slides with humans and those without humans. The result demonstrated that the chimpanzee recognized humans as a category, as well as that this procedure is effective for the study of the perceptual world of animals based on the reinforcing function of stimuli.     

Litter size and infant survivorship in wild groups of cotton‐top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) in Colombia

Cotton‐top tamains (Saguinus oedipus) are a critically endangered primate found only in Colombia. Efforts to conserve this species are centered on developing effective management plans that integrate biological information regarding population dynamics and factors that influence their survival. This study documented infants born to wild cotton‐top tamarin females from 1994–2008 at two distinct field sites in northern Colombia. Our studies have shown that wild cotton‐top tamarins typically give birth to one litter each year and infant survival to 6 months of age was greater in the wild than has been reported in captive colonies. However, similar to reports from captive colonies, litter size of wild cotton‐top tamarins ranges from 1–3 infants, with twin litters most common. Here we report the first occurrence of triplet litters in nearly 20 years of observing wild cotton‐top tamarin groups. Over the first 3 months of life, wild‐born infants exhibited highest mortality during the first week of life, similar to reports from captive colonies. Infant survival in the wild also increases with successive litters as it does in captivity. However, inter‐birth interval, group size, and the number of adult males in the group did not appear to influence infant survival in the wild. The value of such long‐term data from field studies aids in the information that can be used to model future population trends and develop effective conservation plans for this critically endangered primate. Am. J. Primatol. 71:707–711, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Pedodiversity deserves attention in plant biodiversity research

We suggest that pedodiversity, an expression of environmental heterogeneity, should deserve the attention of plant ecologists interested to study the spatial pattern of plant biodiversity at different scales. Using the FAO pedological and the IUCN-WCMC biological data bases of the world countries, we show that the prediction on plant biodiversity (number of vascular plants) improves significantly when the extent of the area is combined with pedodiversity in a multiple polynomial regression. Partial correlation analysis proves that, by removing the effect of pedodiversity, the correlation “number of species–area” remains statistically significant for the tropical countries while it loses significance for the countries outside the tropics.     

Phosphonodiamidate prodrugs of N-alkoxy analogs of a fosmidomycin surrogate as antimalarial and antitubercular agents

A series of N-alkoxy analogs of a l-leucine ethyl ester phosphonodiamidate prodrug of a fosmidomycin surrogate were synthesized and investigated for their ability to inhibit in vitro growth of P. falciparum and M. tuberculosis. These compounds originate by merging a previously reported successful phosphonate derivatisation with favorable modifications of the hydroxamate moiety. None of the synthesized compounds showed enhanced activity against either P. falciparum or M. tuberculosis in comparison with the parent free hydroxamate analog.     

中国红菇属种类及其分布

通过系统的文献收集,汇总了中国红菇属(Russula Pers.)真菌的179个名称记录,并对其生境、用途及分布或分类进行了简述。文献调查表明,红菇属种类广泛分布于中国30个省区。在已报道的红菇属名称记录中,有效名称有159个,包括148种、9变种和2变型,其中新名称1个、新拟汉名8个,无效或不合格名称10个,错拼名称8个,存疑种3个,中国特有种13种,一些种类具有显著的经济价值。     

Clinical trials and SCID row: the ethics of phase 1 trials in the developing world

Relatively little has been written about the ethics of conducting early phase clinical trials involving subjects from the developing world. Below, I analyze ethical issues surrounding one of gene transfer's most widely praised studies conducted to date: in this study, Italian investigators recruited two subjects from the developing world who were ineligible for standard of care because of economic considerations. Though the study seems to have rendered a cure in these two subjects, it does not appear to have complied with various international guidelines that require that clinical trials conducted in the developing world be responsive to their populations' health needs. Nevertheless, policies devised to address large scale, late stage trials, such as the AZT short-course placebo trials, map somewhat awkwardly to early phase studies. I argue that interest in conducting translational research in the developing world, particularly in the context of hemophilia trials, should motivate more rigorous ethical thinking around clinical trials involving economically disadvantaged populations.     

Collembolan species diversity of calcareous canyons in the Republic of Moldova

The study of collembolan communities from the Vîşcăuți canyon in Moldova revealed 63 species belonging to 41 genera and 12 families, including four species new for the fauna of the Republic of Moldova. A checklist of collembolan species identified in the five calcareous canyons sampled so far in Moldova is included, with data on habitats, life form, occurrence and comments of distribution of most remarkable species. Of the 98 recognized species of these calcareous canyons, only 38 were shared by Vîşcăuți and the other canyons. The richness of calcareous habitats together with the high heterogeneity in faunal composition suggests that further significant increase in the species richness of the region may be expected.